A milestone in health care

Published 5:45 pm, Friday, September 27, 2013

While Washington continues to fight needlessly over a law that passed Congress more than three years ago, back here in the real world the law in question is very much alive and its key components are about to get under way. The Affordable Care Act is the most controversial bill Congress has passed in many years, but it's here, and there's no reason, bluster aside, to think it's going anywhere. People need to be prepared.

Oct. 1 is the day that state-run exchanges open for people to buy health insurance. According to the law, as upheld by the Supreme Court, soon everyone will need to have health insurance, and for people who don't get it through an employer or directly from the government, the exchanges are the place to get it. That makes Tuesday an important milestone.

Unlike many states, Connecticut is doing its best to make the process understandable. Elsewhere, states with Republican governors have tried to sabotage the law at every turn, either by refusing to expand Medicaid (as also allowed by the Supreme Court) or by simply making it as difficult as possible for people who need insurance to get the information they need to wade through the process. It doesn't have to be so hard, but when opponents are doing everything they can to make sure the law fails, it makes it tough on the average citizen.

That, though, is a function of the U.S. health care system. It's not as though dealing with employer-based insurance is so simple, either.

In the end, given time to work, the law will have beneficial effects. More people with health insurance means fewer people who are one bad stroke of luck away from financial ruin. Less reliance on emergency rooms for basic care means a better long-term health outlook. Health insurance that isn't dependent on an employer will mean more freedom for potential entrepreneurs to take a chance.

These benefits may not be immediately apparent. But the alternative, maintaining a system where people who lose insurance are simply on their own, with no help dealing with the merciless individual insurance market, is simply untenable. Perfect it is not, but the Affordable Care Act and its exchanges will help bring a little more sanity to our health care system.